Funeral for a Friend
by Warwolf
Summary: AU Diverges from Megidramon vs. Beelzemon. Renamon reflects on the death of a Tamer while listening to The Touch when a Digimon appears, making an offer, which she might not be able to refuse. crossbreeding. RR! Author's note at end, please read it.


**_Funeral for a friend_**

Disclaimer: The standard. I don't own Digimon, nor do I own the song "The Touch" by Stan Bush. (which will appear exclusively at the site until drops the uprising against songfics.) 

Notes: This is a "what if" songfic story, which diverges from the battle between Megidramon and Beelzemon, set about two months after the end of Tamers. All will be explained at the end (or better yet, in responses to reviews), if there are any questions. The song has a unique purpose in this story. 

The usual key applies, BTW. If you don't know it by now, check out some of my other works. . The only exception this time is that it is also used for the songs, which will be centered. Enjoy. . 

Secondary note: READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY! 

It had been almost impossible to believe. Certainly Ruki Makino would not have believed it. Yet there it was in front of her. Oblong, oak, and- or so it seemed to her- laughing in her face. 

Jenrya Lee sat not that far from the red-blonde haired female Tamer, Terriermon perched on his shoulder. For once, the wiseass wisely said nothing sarcastic. Of course, Jenrya would have desperately welcomed any attempt to lighten the mood, even as he was sure at the same time that he would have attempted to strangle his partner for doing so. Not too far from him were Renamon, Guardromon, Hirokazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon. The humans and Renamon looked sad. Guardromon and MarineAngemon however, looked perplexed. 

Juri Katou was, understandably, the farthest of the group from the casket. Having lost both her mother, and then much later her partner Leomon, it was astonishing to everyone present that she was even here. Even more startling, was that not too far from her, was Impmon! Given the circumstances, Tamers and Digimon both were surprised to see him not only even being here, but being so close by Juri. What Ruki found startling was that she didn't even feel that she had enough strength to get up, walk over, and strangle the little Digimon to death. She was more surprised that Renamon hadn't managed it, though she could tell just by looking at her partner that she damned well wanted to, but seemed to be holding herself back for the sake of everyone present.   
As for Impmon, he looked genuinely remorseful. 

Little Shaochung Lee seemed confused, which was understandable. Lopmon, however, _she_ understood this all too well. As they stood there, each had their own thoughts running through their heads, as did their famililes, and even yes, Yamaki himself. They were all present. All to honor a fallen hero. Yamaki however, seemed perhaps far more disturbed than the rest of them. Why exactly, nobody coould say. 

_You never bend, you never break_   
_You seem to know just what it takes_   
_You're a fighter_

_It's in the blood, it's in the will_   
_It's in the mighty hands of steel_   
_When you're standin' your ground_

_And you never get hit when your back's to the wall_   
_Gonna fight to the end and you're takin' it all_

_You got the touch_   
_You got the power_

As surprising as all of this was, only Ruki seemed to be concered with these things. But then, her days as the ice cold Digimon Queen had more or less conditioned her to think about more than just the immediate things. Her mind was primarily concerned with the immediate, but she couldn't help but wonder at why Yamaki seemed to be so pained by all of this.   
Not that she had much time to ponder it, as a peal of thunder roared overhead, the inky blackness of the clouds settling over the sun.   
**_Appropriate, I suppose._** Ruki thought to herself.   
Guilmon stood not too far away, ears drooping. His childlike mentality still had a hard time wrapping around this concept. Renamon went over and gently hugged the red dinosaurian-type. As the rain began to fall, all but four beings left. Ruki, Renamon, Guilmon, and Yamaki. 

_You got the touch_   
_You got the power_

_When all hell's breakin' loose_   
_You'll be riding the eye of the storm_

_You got the heart_   
_You got the motion_

_You know that when things get too tough_   
_You got the touch_

"I'm sorry about all of this."   
Ruki started a bit, as did the others. Impmon, it seemed, had returned.   
"Is that _all_ you can say! That you're sorry! Sorry can't do anything about this! This, in some ways, is even _worse_ than what you did to Leomon!" Renamon retorted. Ruki actually seemed surprised by that comment for the merest of moments until she realized that she was speaking from the viewpoint of a Digimon, and for Digimon, killing was a fact of life in their world, where it was all or nothing more often than not.   
"Look, it was a stupid mistake, okay!" The little rookie snapped. "I just wanted to be able to Digivolve! I was tired of always being kicked around, treated like some weak in-training, and I couldn't stand the fact that you Digimon had partners who actually gave a damn about you! But I never wanted _THIS_! I mean yeah, they contracted me to kill Dino-boy there, but he's one of us! It woulda been just business as usual! How the hell was I to know this was gonna happen!" He continued.   
Renamon, finally pushed beyond her limits for the day, lost her temper for the first time in more years than she cared to count, teleported next to the little Digimon and slapped him with enough force to send him hurtling through the air and into a tree. Even Guilmon seemed a bit taken aback by this. Renamon had seemed the calmest of them all. Indeed, very little could rattle the fox-type. Impmon looked the most surprised of all. After all the times Renamon had tried to be friends with Impmon, this was a full 180 degree turn for her. The look on her face was staggering. She was genuinely upset. More than she should have been, at least that's what he thought.   
"How can you be so damned callous!" She all but shouted. "Haven't you figured it out yet? He wasn't one of us! He had a life ahead of him, Goddramon damn you! He...he..." Renamon finally just vanished from sight, but the look on her face was very easy to notice by Impmon and the returning Terriermon who had come back to find out what all the commotion was.   
"That was...unexpected." Yamaki said slowly. Terriermon barely bit back a wsiecrack about the leader of Hypnos' sudden gift for understatement. However, he simply allowed his ears to catch an updraft and took to the air. He had a feeling he knew where the fox-type was headed.   
"Hey! Where are you going, long ears!" Ruki said angrily.   
"I'll be back in a bit with Renamon! Tell Jen not to worry, I'll be okay." Was all the dog-rabbit said, as the currents carried him off. Impmon was stunningly swift and stealthy, managing to depart and follow the other rookie from a discreet distance.   
A short while later, Terriermon found the Vulpine near the home of the fallen one. She was sitting on the roof of the neighboring home. Terriermon gently glided down to land behind her. Impmon, with a few leaps, landed a short ways behind the two, simply waiting and watching.   
"You loved him, didn't you?"   
Renamon whipped around, and Impmon winced with another pang of guilt. The Vulpine was crying, but also looked surprised at having been discovered.   
"How did you find me!" She demanded, almost choking on her own words. Terriermon looked like he wanted to break down too and just hug her. But instead just looked at her and repeated:   
"You loved him, didn't you?"   
Renamon turned around, looking back down at the house. "How did you know?"   
"I'd say it was pretty damned obvious." The two turned to see Impmon walking over. "The way you went apeshit on me earlier. Look, Renamon, I'm sorry. I really am. If I'd known then what I know now, I never would've accepted Chatsuramon's offer. I may not have been all that fond of humans, but I kinda liked him. He was as naive as Pineapple head sometimes. But at least he was consistent. I didn't think that guy had a mean bone in his body at times.I'm just sorry I pulled the trigger that last time. I had no fucking CLUE he'd take the hit for'im. I knew he was a little nuts when it came to protecting his friends, but even I didn't think he was _THAT_ nuts!"   
Renamon almost looked ready to attack the small Rookie again. Since their time in the Digital World, Impmon had surrendered his power, only to gain it back in the form of Beelzemon Blast Mode, a variant version of the Mega form in which he had caused such pain and suffering. For Leomon, Beelzemon had been the spectre of death. Despite it all, Juri had never been able to fully forgive him for the death of her partner. Megidramon though, had proven that rage, when properly applied, makes for a great battery of energy, and Impmon carried the scars of that lesson to this day. Scars that might have been avoided, if not for the second death which had occured that day. As the three Digimon looked down at the small home, which also helped serve to bring income to the fallen Tamer and his family, each had their own thoughts. Terriermon voiced the most obvious one.   
"Does Ruki know?" He asked.   
Renamon said nothing. It had become obvious that in the days that followed, that Ruki was beginning to suffer a breakdown as well, since she too had loved him. Juri, however, her depression nearly lead to the destruction of life as it was known on Earth and the Digital World, thanks to her encounter with the D-Reaper. Ruki had dealt with her grief by becoming cold-hearted to everyone but Renamon again. When things returned to normal though, she completely broke down. She refused to eat, go to school, or talk with anyone except her grandmother and Renamon. Renamon remained stoic, but her own heart had been crushed by the events of that day, and she couldn't bear to reveal her own affections for the now departed Tamer, since she already felt a wedge being driven between her and her Tamer. Ruki had begun to see Digimon as things to be hated again because of what Beelzemon had done.   
"I hate to break up this sob-fest...but it's...startin ta rain..." Impmon said in a tiny voice. Renamon finally looked over at him and sighed.   
"Impmon...I...I forgive you. What you did was horrible..but in the end, you did see the error of your ways. I cannot find it in my heart to destroy you, not knowing what I know. And I would not deprive your partners of their best friend."   
"Hey, no need to sweat it, fox-face. They..they don't entirely understand what happened, or what I did, but I was ready to die to fix my mistake. I wouldn't have blamed ya if ya _did_ decide to axe me. But..thanks anyway. Ai and Mako will understand someday. I just hope they're as forgiving."   
"Somehow...I believe they will be." She said, with an almost smile.   
As the rain finally broke, lightning pealing out from the clouds and the roar of thunder bringing them back to reality, they took a final look at the small building, then leapt away, bounding back to the cemetary.   
"Hey, Renamon?"   
"Yes?"   
"Man, I'm gonna get a brow-beating for this one but...you think you'da been able to ask him out if things went differently?"   
The sound of a dual facefault from twenty feet up by Renamon and Impmon could be heard for three blocks in all directions in response to Terriermon's question. 

_Aftermath:_   
Renamon snapped awake as a peal of thunder and lightning ripped through the sky. She blinked a few times, disoriented. Then realized where she was as the song she had been listening to on a loop from a CD player came to a close yet again. She had fallen asleep listening to it, and oddly enough, the song was so true to the way the fallen one had acted it was scary. She was home. Five years since the Incident. In those five years, things had certainly changed, and not completely for the better.   
Impmon, amazingly, had found himself becoming Beelzemon Blast Mode once again, and rather than question the occurence, began making the best of it by becoming a crimefighter. He was often joined in his heroics by Guilmon, who had started randomly digivolving up to Megidramona year after the Incident, and the two had managed to become not only friends, after two years of bitterness on Megidramon's part, but also a formidible duo. Though Megidramon still had a tendancy to be more brutal than his partner.   
Juri was eventually institutionalized for attempting to return to the Digital World through suicide.   
Ruki, surprisingly, had also been instituionalized for attempting to exhume the body of the fallen Tamer.   
Jenrya had begun lobbying for the rights of Digimon, alongside Terriermon and most of Hypnos _AND_ The Monster Makers, which lead to the establishing of relations between Earth and Zhuqiaomon's sector of the Digital World, which in turn lead to invitations from the other Sovereigns to begin talks with them as well. As a result, the Digital World was united for the first time in over fifteen years, with the Sovereigns forming a counterpoint to Earth's United Nations.   
Antylomon, once again at Ultimate, had begun a relationship with, of all Digimon, Megidramon. The two are celebrating their two year anniversary. Though she spends most of her time helping to further Human/Digimon relations, she occasionally joins Megidramon and Beelzemon in their crimefighting campaigns.   
Terriermon, who decided not to digivolve up, has become a comedian, and has a special airing on HBO in a few months. He picked up english surprisingly fast.   
And then there was Renamon. She had become almost a hermit after the fallen one's death. She left the Makino home only rarely,and when she did, it was often as Sakuyamon. She had somehow gained the ability to digivolve to Mega without Ruki. She never questioned it. She was simply grateful for the chance to go out in that form. She often vistits his grave. And indeed, she was about to Digivolve and head out on this night, but a strange light began to coalesce in front of her, forming into the shape of a Digimon. Renamon's eyes narrowed suspiciously. She knew this Digimon, by reputation, and she did not entirely welcome his presence   
"What do you want?"   
"Peace, young Renamon. I have come to offer you a gift." The Digimon replied, giving her a gentle smile.   
"I don't trust you, Seraphimon. You've got a reputation for causing more trouble than you're worth sometimes."   
"Perhaps" The Holy Mega Digimon replied. "But I can give you your fondest wish. I can give Takato back to you."   
Renamon's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You tread dangerous waters, Seraphimon."   
"I speak the complete truth, gentle one. You know of my reputation, so you must also know of my power. I can give him back to you, as alive and as healthy as he had always been. All you have to do is accept my gift, and take my hand, that I may send you to him."   
Renamon hesitated... 

Owari 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay! This story WILL have a sequel, or perhaps I'll add another chapter on to this. I see it going one of two ways. Either Renamon will accept Seraphimon's offer, which will allow for even greater story potential, or she'll reject it, which will lead down another storyline arc. I want to hear from you, the readers, as to what you think I should do. Should Renamon accept the offer? reject it? Or should I write both storylines, for those who want to see both stories play out? Let me know! .

Secondary note: My two fanfics will remain intact on and I will post the URLs on my profile page in a few days for those who want to see the original version of this fic and Faith of the Heart. In the meantime, let know how you feel about their attack on songfics!


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